Injury Reserve: Live At The Dentist’s Office

Arizona hip-hop trio Injury Reserve came into being in 2014, composed of rappers Steppa J. Groggs and Ritchie With a T, and producer Parker Corey. After generating a remarkable buzz in the rap community with a handful of singles, the group finally offers us a thorough showcase of their talents with their debut mixtape Live At The Dentist’s Office.

Live At The Dentist’s Office is the kind of project that every retro-philiac hiphop-head eagerly waits for every year. The group’s style is a refreshing marriage of laid-back old-school jazz-rap reminiscent of A Tribe Called Quest, with the more popular sounds of contemporary hip-hop. While Ritchie and Steppa exercise their cool and steady flows, Parker Cory keeps the mood from being overly nostalgic with his modern production. Take for example, the quirky and slow-burning ttktv, where the spaced-out instrumentals bring to mind the work of James Blake, or Everybody Knows with its loud, glitch-y Odd Future-esque beat.

The opener Yo displays Injury Reserve‘s penchant for punchlines while Whatever Dude offers an unabashedly honest insight into their lives as struggling artists. 45, on the other hand, is a fun and clever show of lyricism that plays around with the number 45.